The theme of the upcoming conference is “Changing political communication, changing Europe?”. Currently, we are witnessing massive changes in media and political systems all over Europe. To mention a few of these changes, the number of communication channels, in particular social media continues to grow, making media diets more and more individualized. Media organizations around the Europe have been hit hard by the economic crisis, and newspapers struggle to reinvent their business model. These changes make journalists vulnerable to economic and political pressures. Politically, the global economic crisis and sociodemographic changes put pressure on governments for structural reforms. We see that trust in institutions and elites as well as social cohesion are under pressure, while EU scepticism and populism are on the rise. At the same time new social movements are emerging, transforming the dissatisfaction and ideals of citizens into new forms of political participation. Technological developments have simultaneously given governments more means of surveillance of their citizens and made them more vulnerable to information leaks.

This conference will address these diverse changes. We will discuss how and under which conditions changes in the political and media systems reinforce, but also counteract each other. We will discuss the normative and empirical implications of these changes for the functioning of our democracies and their political communication practices as well as the implications for our scholarly research and teaching. We welcome new empirical studies as well papers presenting new theoretical approaches relating to the theme “Changing political communication, changing Europe?”, in the broadest sense. Among the many possible approaches to the conference theme, some questions that submitters may want to address could be:

How do social media, media polarization and fragmentation of news use affect social cohesion and political participation?

Welcome to this website on 2015 ECREA Political Communication Conference to be held at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark 27-28 August 2015. The conference theme will be “Changing political communication, changing Europe?” (read more here). On this website, you will find all the practical information you will need: how to submit and register for the conference, how to travel to Odense and where to book accommodation.

If you have any questions or queries about the workshop, please feel free to contact us, see more here.